The Banker Who Heard Voices 
By Hal Haralson

    Shirley Humphries is a banker.  She has been a friend and client for nearly 20 years.

    Like most bankers, Shirley has a “no nonsense” attitude when it comes to money.

    Shirley is a very deeply committed Christian.

    On this particular day, she wasn’t in a very “holy” position.  Her hands were in the soapy dishwater of the kitchen sink.

    She looked out the window and saw Carroll, her husband, gripping the handles of the tiller as he prepared the soil for the spring garden.

    “I heard a voice,” Shirley told me later.

    “I’m not given to this kind of thing, but it was very clear to me.”

    God spoke, she told me, “Take care of my disciple, Davis.”

    Davis is her preacher brother who had just lost his church and was in desperate straits with four kids.  They were living with her parents.

    She went outside and told Carroll what had happened.

    She could tell he was somewhat skeptical.  He assured her, however, that whatever God and she could agree on, he sure wasn’t going to get in the way.  That was all she needed.  She went to the drawer where their last three tithe envelopes were.

    They were about to join another church so she wrote the checks for the right amount but didn’t complete the “Pay to” parts, waiting for the decision about which church they would join.

    Then she opened another envelope and put the total amount of the money in it and laid it on the table, $871.23.

    Then she called her brother, Davis.  He was grateful.  “You know this is not tax deductible,” he said.  “It’s not like you are giving it to the church.”

    “I know what I’m doing, Davis.  The money will be in tomorrow’s mail.”

    She felt good about what she had done.  “I knew God had spoken to me,” she told me later.  “I had obeyed.”

    Carroll and she discussed it at the dinner table.  He didn’t say much but she felt okay.  He was with her in this.

    Three days later, she reported to me, there was a letter in the mail from the Title Company.  They had sold their house two months before.

    “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Humphries.  When we did the closing on your house, we made a mistake.  Please accept our apologies.  A check for the amount we owe you is enclosed.”  The check was for $871.23.

    A direct wire transfer?

Updated Wednesday, May 30, 2001